American woman kidnapped in Afghanistan

Gunmen kidnapped a burqa-clad American aid worker and her driver while they were traveling through southern Afghanistan early Saturday, a provincial governor said. The two were stopped by gunmen outside the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, said Gov. Asadullah Khalid. He blamed the kidnapping on the "enemy of Islam and the enemy of Afghanistan." Khalid said the 49-year-old American had been wearing a burqa when she was taken.

She worked for the aid agency Asian Rural Life Development Foundation, he said. The U.S. Embassy said it had no immediate information. Khalid said the gunmen had not contacted the government or the aid organization.

He said police and intelligence officials were trying to track her down. The group runs food-for-work, irrigation rehabilitation, health care and restoration projects around Kandahar, according to its Web site. Several Westerners -- including two German construction workers and two Italian journalists _ have been kidnapped in Afghanistan in the last year, but this was the first kidnapping of an American in recent memory.
Source: Associated Press